Saturday Service Plays

WINNING POINTS

NBA

BEST BET
*Indiana over Sacramento by 14
Unlike on Friday, the Kings no longer are in a good situational spot. This marks their
third road game in four days, while Indiana has been off the past three days. The Pacers are much more effective with point guard Jamaal Tinsley back from injury running the show. The Pacers up-tempo style is tailor-made to take advantage of tired legs, which the Kings figure to have. Indiana ranked No. 7 offensively averaging better than 102 points. INDIANA 110-96.

BEST BET
*Milwaukee over Golden State by 8
The Bucks have the matchup flexibility, depth and scorers to match up well to the
smallish Warriors. The Bucks were idle on Friday, while the Warriors were at Chicago. This is Golden State’s fourth road game in five nights. That’s a schedule killer for a perimeter shooting, racehorse team such as the Warriors. MILWAUKEE 113-105.

NCAA

BEST BET
Southern Illinois* over Wichita State by 18
Get ‘em while their cold, or at least when everyone thinks the Salukis are cold.
Southern Illinois has had their struggles, but the Shockers of WSU are looking kind
of scrawny and might spend the entire 40 minutes pinballing around the floor in feeble attempts to carry out the first-year head coach’s offense against SIU’s rough-andtumble defenders. Wichita State head coach Marshall, who recently said only one of his players understands his system, to anyone who’ll listen: “That kind of defense should be illegal!” SOUTHERN ILLINOLIS, 65-47.

THE SPORTS REPORTER

BEST BET
*NEBRASKA over BAYLOR by 15
Shown how far they need to go during lesson applied by Jayhawks, Huskers will be eager to apply lessons learned against another league upstart. Aleks Maric should capitalize versus Bears caught on first leg of nasty Husker/Aggie trip. Baylor’s come a long way in a short time, and this floor has hosted many an “upset” that really wasn’t. NEBRASKA, 80-65.

SPORTS MEMO

BRENT CROW
Villanova at Syracuse
Recommendation: Syracuse
In this matchup we have two very young Big East teams that
have opened the season with somewhat shaky results. Villanova
has been ranked as high as No. 17 in the polls, but they
are very overrated from what I have seen of them so far. They
did not face a tough non-conference schedule, with a win over
George Mason, a miracle win over LSU and a loss to NC State
being their most marquee games. So far in conference play,
they are 0-2 on the road and squeaked by Pitt by one at home.
They have failed to cover in their last five games, despite winning
three of them. This will be another tough road game for
them and it comes after a revenge game against DePaul on
Wednesday. The Blue Demons beat them on January 3rd in the
conference opener for both teams, so the Wildcats will emphasize
that contest. Syracuse also struggled in non conference
play, losing home games to Rhode Island and UMass, but
opened the Big East season with home wins over South Florida
and St. John’s. The Orangemen were 0-2 on the Big East road
last week however, dropping games to Cincinnati and West Virginia.
They should get back on track at home against the young
Wildcats, however, in a game that will be lined close to pick’em.

ED CASH
LSU at Vanderbilt
Recommendation: LSU

These two seasons have gone in opposite directions. Vanderbilt
is off to a great start, ranked in the top-25 with just one loss on
the year. LSU, meanwhile, is 7-9 and mired in a 5-game losing
streak entering this week’s action. The Tigers should be able to
pick up a win at home on Wednesday against Auburn, which might
help their confidence against Vanderbilt on Saturday. Vanderbilt
will play a huge game this week on the road against Tennessee
and it will be on Thursday night instead of the normal Wednesday,
leaving them one less day to rest and prepare for LSU. The
fact that the Tigers are struggling also works against Vanderbilt
here, as they won’t have the same energy for the Tigers as their
two previous games against Kentucky and Tennessee. Vanderbilt
will be in the range of a 15-point chalk in this game, which
gives us plenty of room for the Tigers to get the cover. Vandy
is only 3-6 ATS as a double-digit chalk this season, mostly because
they do not play great defense. The Commodores would
much rather win 86-76 than 68-48, and they sacrifice some
possessions on offense and defense at times. LSU has not fared
very well against the spread this season, covering just two of 11
lined games, but they did cover in their last loss at Ole Miss as
a 15-point dog. They trailed by 20+ points in the second half,
but never quit and wound up losing by just three. I expect the
Tigers to notch another cover today in this bad spot for Vandy.

TEDDY COVERS
Illinois State at Drake
Recommendation: Drake

We can expect to continue getting extremely attractive prices to
support Drake as long as Missouri Valley Conference leading scorer
Josh Young remains out with a severely sprained right ankle. First
year head coach Keno Davis has taken over for his father Tom,
much the way Tony Bennett took over for his dad at Washington
State and immediately engineered a 15-win improvement over
what his father had been able to accomplish in the previous season.
The transformation here at Drake has been eerily similar, with the
building blocks put in place by the dad reaping tremendous dividends
for the son. And there’s still plenty of value left with a team
that was projected as a bottom feeder in the Missouri Valley Conference,
but has gotten off to a 14-1 SU, 10-1 ATS start to the campaign.
Drake is outscoring foes by more than 20 points per game at
home, enjoying tremendous crowd support in a conference loaded
with strong home court edges. And there’s tons of depth on this
squad, allowing us to continue supporting them despite Young’s
injury. Leonard Houston and Jonathan Cox are both hitting better
than 45% for the season from long range, and forward Klayton
Korver is a deadeye dick from downtown as well. Combine that with
a 75% free throw shooting percentage at home and a defense that
is forcing turnovers galore while holding opponents to 40% shooting
from the field, and you can understand why the fundamentals
are in place for Drake to continue their stellar early season run.

TIM TRUSHEL
Mississippi State at Alabama
Recommendation: Under

Last Tuesday on ESPN’s National coverage, Alabama was embarrassed
on the defensive end by Florida. The Tide allowed
the Gators to erase a double-digit lead as Florida connected
on big shot after big shot. At 0-2 in conference play, the Tide
has shifted it’s focus on the court. Projected to be an uptempo
basketball team, they scored 80 or more points in 10
of their first 16 games. Head coach Mike Gottfried blamed the
up-tempo offense for the lack of consistency and focus on the
defensive end. He was even quoted about slowing the offense
down. “We can’t ever get in the mind set that we’re just going
to try and outscore you,” Gottfried said. By slowing the
offense down, the Tide won’t be expected to give up those
easy baskets. In their last game against Arkansas it certainly
worked as Alabama forced overtime and held Arkansas to
just 60 points in regulation. The uncomfortable transition into
more half court sets showed up in the shooting percentages as
the Crimson Tide shot just 35% from the field. But it certainly
worked on the defensive side as the Hogs could muster just
37% shooting and was held to their season low in regulation.
Mississippi State will not force the tempo and in this highly
charged Conference game, defense will rule the day. We’ll continue
to play on Alabama Under as the market fails to realize
the significant tempo change taking place in Tuscaloosa.

ERIN RYNNING
Golden State at Milwaukee
Recommendation: Milwaukee

The Warriors and Don Nelson return to Milwaukee to face
the Bucks on Saturday night. This game will serve as a brutal
scheduling spot for the Warriors playing their fourth game
in five nights all on the road. The first three games include
two energy sapping games as well. Wednesday night the Warriors
will play in Indiana as many of the players, most notably
Stephen Jackson and Al Harrington, have this game circled
on their calendars after being traded from the organization
about one year ago. On Friday night, the Warriors will play
the Chicago Bulls under the light of national TV on ESPN.
Again, that should leave the Warriors perhaps going through
the motions with little energy in this contest. The frantic
way of playing basketball Golden State prefers is predicated
on ‘energy’ and defense, so finding ‘spots’ where they won’t
have their legs is crucial. Meanwhile, the Bucks are the Bucks
teetering in mediocrity. However, this contest will serve as
their first since Wednesday, which gives them a major energy
edge. In addition, the Bucks are now back to being healthy
with the return of super scorer Michael Redd. In a stark contrast,
the Bucks actually played defense without Redd in the
lineup, while perhaps they continue this trend moving forward.
This is just a beautiful spot for the Bucks and the numbers
should just basically be asking this team to win to garner the
cover as well. Play the Bucks in Saturday night NBA action.

JARED KLEIN
Florida at Washington
Recommendation: Washington

I love to play teams that are at home in this situation as the Caps
have had a day to rest and are in tremendous form of late winning
four out of their last five games. Despite sitting in 13th place in
the Eastern Conference, the Capitals are only seven points out
of the playoffs and they also have alleviated their biggest distraction
last week signing superstar Alexander Ovechkin to a
monster 13-year contract to keep him in Washington until he is
35 years old. Since turning the team over to head coach Bruce
Boudreau, Washington has gone 12-6-4 which is a dramatic
turnaround from the 6-14-1 record they posted to start the season.
The Florida Panthers will be playing their third game in
four days and are playing the second half of a back-to-back set
against a well rested Capitals. The Panthers have dropped three
out of their last four games and have shown no signs of climbing
into the playoffs with inconsistency on both the offensive
and defensive sides of the puck. On the other hand, Washington
is a team that is growing up before our eyes. They’ve beaten
teams like Ottawa, Colorado and Montreal in this recent stretch
and this is a team that I think could sneak into the playoffs
because of the mediocrity of the Eastern Conference and their
veteran goaltender Olaf Kolzig who has been down this road
before. Look for Washington to make some noise the second
half of the season and play them this weekend against Florida

POINTWISE

TENNESSEE over Ohio State (Sat) RATING: 1

WISC-MILWAUKEE over Green Bay (Sat) RATING: 2

CAL-FULLERTON over Cal-Davis (Sat) RATING: 2

MIAMI-FLA over No Carolina State (Sat) RATING: 3

CLEMSON over Duke (Sat) RATING: 5

THE GOLD SHEET

PORTLAND by 6 over Orlando
NEW JERSEY by 9 over L.A. Clippers

LA SALLE by 6 over Richmond (Saturday, January 19)
MISSISSIPPI by 18 over Auburn (Saturday, January 19)
CREIGHTON by 22 over Indiana State (Saturday, January 19)

CTO

CLEMSON over *Duke (Day Game)...After coming so close vs. Duke twice LY (lost by 2 & 5), veteran (NIT finalist LY), deep, and versatile Clemson could very well turn the trick this season. HC Oliver Purnell is usually using nine players pg (five are in double figures) and has plenty of muscle and athleticism that figure to give re-tooling Blue Devils a problem, even at Duke. With Purnell able to count on sr. PG Cliff Hammonds and 6-5 jr. scorer Keith Rivers (16 ppg) in the clutch, Tigers (4-0 last four as dog) should make points work.

CLEMSON 74 - *Duke 73 RATING - 10

CHARLOTTE over *Massachusetts...Now that Charlotte has notched a huge signature road win with 82-72 upset at Clemson Jan. 9, will buck offense-minded UMass (85 ppg), which exhibits far less passion on defensive end (yielding A-10 worst 77 ppg). Forty-Niners wire-to-wire victory at Littlejohn indicates explosive G Goldwire (19 ppg) & mates welcome an open court game vs. go-go Minutemen, who tend to fire indiscrimately from arc (league-high 25 attempts pg, but convert just 35%). And note, 4 of the 5 Charlotte losses have come by combined 14 pts., while 2 key Forty-Niner starters fouled out early on in season-worst 12-pt. setback at Tulsa. CHARLOTTE 79 -

*Massachusetts 75 RATING - 10

SAINT JOSEPH'S over *Penn...While St. Joe's Phil Martelli has his team (9-2 vs. spread thru Jan. 15) ascending once again, crosstown rival Glen Miller has his hands full trying to keep Penn at a competitive level vs. non-Ivy competition. Aggressive defenses of smaller Quakers will be no surprise to Martelli, who has five players in double figures and should own the boards with 6-10 sr. Calathes & 6-8 jr. Nivins (combo 15.5 rpg). Martelli's disciplined offensive sets pay dividends again vs. outclassed Penn (losses to the likes of Howard & Florida Gulf Coast TY).

SAINT JOSEPH'S 78 - *Penn 60 RATING - 11

*LOUISIANA-LAFAYETTE over Western Kentucky....Respected Sun Belt sources report resurgent ULL itchin' for this contest after finally hosting WKU for 1st time since '04-'05 (lost last two years at Bowling Green; lost in conf. tourney in '05-'06). With 6-5 soph catalyst Millsap (10 ppg, 7 rpg, 2 spg) leading the way, look to take any available pts. with Ragin' Cagins, who're 3-0 in conf. games at Cajundome, and had contender North Texas tottering at Super Pit before giving up final 8 pts. in 72-65 setback Jan. 12. Scheduling also sets up favorably for profitable ULL (13-3-1 vs. spread last 17 in Sun Belt) coming off tuneup vs. Utah Valley State, while Hilltoppers playing their 4th game in 10 days.

*LOUISIANA-LAFAYETTE 80 - Western Kentucky 72 RATING - 11

LOYOLA-MARYMOUNT over *Santa Clara...SCU's recent freefall somewhat puzzling, but unmistakable, as WCC scouts report new HC Keating (from Ben Howland's UCLA staff) having a hard time adjusting in first season as head coach. And with Broncos lacking the defensive intensity that characterized predecessor Dick Davey's regime, and opposing defenses beginning to collapse on 6-11 Bryant, SCU (1-7 vs. line last 8) lacks the "horsepower" to extend margins. LMU not much, but Lions swept a better Bronco team LY, and promising frosh 6-5 O. Johnson & 6-9 Diederichs beginning to make impact.

LOYOLA-MARYMOUNT 64 - *Santa Clara 67 RATING - 10

Steven Nover Comp

Clemson @ Duke
PICK: Clemson

REASON FOR PICK: Clemson should have upset North Carolina two weeks ago and the Tigers are certainly capable of achieving an upset of Duke.

The Tigers have the scoring balance, depth, rebounding, ballhawks and perimeter defense to go into Duke and give the Blue Devils all they can handle.

Clemson lost to North Carolina, 90-88 in overtime. The Tigers came that close despite missing 13 of 27 free throws. The Tigers can score with Duke, averaging 81.9 points. That ranks 19th in the nation.

Clemson has covered 10 of 13 times (77 percent) this season, including its last four. The road team is 6-2 against the number in this series.

The Tigers certainly won't lack for motivation after last season's controversial two-point loss at Duke when it was discovered afterward that a timing error probably deprived Clemson of a chance to win in overtime. Clemson lost both meetings to Duke last season by a combined seven points.

Michael Cannon

Saturday's Early Play

30 Dime -
SOUTHERN ILLINOIS

Saturday's Late Plays

15 Dime -
BUCKS

5 Dime -
MAGIC
MIAMI (Fla)

Mighty Quinn

Georgetown - 8 1/2

Burns

Big East GOM--------Syracuse
Shocker GOM--------George Washington
Conf. GOY-----------NC St
Situational GOY-------Bucks

Kelso Sat BB

Chairmans Club 10 unit
Houston -7.5 v. Texas El-Paso

Best Bets
5 units Utah -2 v. BYU
4 units Mississippi -4.5 @ Alabama
3 units James Madison -7.5 v. George Mason

WILL SYKE

Portland VS Orlando

SYKE-O-ANALYSIS: That's it, I've given enough chances to those bookies, and now it's our turn. We're pulling a no mercy on them today. I looked at this line and I can't believe what the oddsmakers are doing right now. Those lines makers are jumbled with all the psyche outs we've been putting out on them. Tonight it continues, as Sykes will once again continue to psyche out the bookies. Portland pulls out a beautiful win against the horrid Miami Heat, and does it surprise me that they won against the Heat on the road as a 3.5 point dog? Maybe it'll surprise you, but not me! We have a nice blow out situation set here for the Magic, as we find them in an upset loss against the Bobcats last time out. Tonight the Magic show no mercy and win by double digits against the poor road team (Blazers). Portland is on a back to back road game against a home team that just lost to Charlotte. Don't get psyched out today just because you remember Portland's nice 13 game win streak, just remember this, the Magic are the real thing this year and are capable of knocking out top teams like the Celtics. So stick with Sykes and know that the Magic are a way better team, especially playing at home! Just stick with Sykes, and no doubt, we Will Syke out those oddsmakers.

Orlando Magic -4.5

Vegas Experts

Toronto Raptors at Philadelphia 76ers

Toronto has now won and covered five-of-six while Philadelphia is 1-8 S/U and 2-7 ATS its last nine. Raptors also a remarkable 18-5 ATS in Philadelphia and 44-24 ATS in a road game where where the total is between 190 and 194.5 points since 1996.

Play on: Toronto

Sports Gambling Hotline

Rutgers at DEPAUL -13

Our free play run stands at 94-65-3 as we head into Saturday's action!

Both Rutgers and DePaul enter play today with similar records, but that is where the similarity ends! The Blue Demons are on the rise, as evidenced by their near sweep of Villanova over the last two weeks. The Demons are averaging 76 points per game at home, while the Scarlet Knights come to town toting a 56 ppg average on the road this season.

Not surprisingly the Knights are just 1-6 straight up away from home, and 0-6 against the spread!

The last time these schools met, DePaul put a 60-37 humiliation on Rutgers, and that was a game that was contested in New Jersey!

The Scarlet Knights latest losing streak has seen them fail their last 3, and 4 of their last 5 ALL as double digit dogs. You just can't give this team enough points to keep matters close.

DePaul destroys the Scarlet Knights in this matinee from the Windy City.

Play on the Blue Demons.

3* DEPAUL

Scott Spreitzer

New York Knicks at Miami Heat

I'm taking the points with the Knicks on Saturday night. New York has played much better basketball with Stephon Marbury no longer in the picture. While they dropped one last night, I expect a return to the win column in Miami. The hapless Heat have now dropped 12 in a row and they're absolutely horrible in this situation, to say the least. Miami is laying points again. After last night's loss, they're now 2-9 SU, 1-10 ATS when installed as a home favorite. Miami is old and banged-up and it really shows in the second of back-to-back nights, where they're 2-9 SU, and on the wrong side of an average score of 104-96

Kelso Sturgeon Basketball

COLLEGE BASKETBALL GAME OF THE MONTH

50 Units

Arizona (+1 ½) over CALIFORNIA

Prediction: Arizona by 9-10

Comments: Arizona (11-6) has played the toughest basketball schedule in the country thus far, according to the NCAA and it is remarkable the Wildcats have won 11 games. This is a team that has been hit hard by injuries but is now again 100% healthy and has the talent, speed, quickness and defense to hold its own with any of the 341 NCAA I-A division teams in the land. Arizona comes into this game ready to fire its best shot—and that should be good enough to get the job done against a California (11-5) team that is rebuilding.